Transporting heavy loads overland is commonly accomplished by a tractor pulling a trailer laden with cargo. A variety of trailers are used for such purposes usually including an elongated deck and a plurality of wheels mounted near the rear end of the trailer for contact with the road during transportation. One particular type of heavy transport trailer is referred to as a “lowboy”. Lowboy trailers include an elongated open deck having a front end which is lowered to the ground for loading and unloading heavy equipment on and off the trailer.
Trailers are usually pivotally-connected with a tractor, for example, by means of a removable gooseneck (RGN). An RGN connects at its front end to the fifth wheel assembly on the tractor and at the rear end with the deck of the trailer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,572 describes one type of detachable gooseneck.
Loading and unloading a lowboy trailer can be a daunting task when performed manually. A number of steps are required. First the RGN-trailer assembly is disconnected from the tractor by unlocking the fifth wheel, disconnecting electrical and air lines, discharging air in suspension to lower tractor (if applicable), and pulling the tractor forward slowly to lower the RGN-trailer assembly onto the ground. Next the RGN is disconnected from the trailer by removing “U” bars from locking plates to disconnect RGN from trailer on both sides, backing up the tractor so that the fifth wheel engages the RGN king pin, pulling the lock pin on the trailer to disengage RGN from trailer and pulling the tractor-RGN assembly away from trailer. This multi-step process may take 20-25 minutes or longer to perform manually. Reconnecting the trailer essentially involves the reverse of this process. Obviously this process is time-consuming and inefficient for businesses that are on a tight timeline. Moreover, this process can be even more burdensome during inclement weather.
While connecting and disconnecting a trailer from an RGN can be simplified by utilizing a hydraulic lift mechanism such systems can be very expensive to incorporate and add substantial weight to the operational load.
While currently available hydraulic lift devices provide an improvement over a strictly manual process for connecting and disconnecting a trailer from an RGN such systems are very costly to install. There remains a need for a less costly, easy-to-use hydraulic lift device for use when connecting and disconnecting an RGN from a trailer.